Fire and Ice in racine, the Spirit of Racine Triathlon RR

Spirit of Racine Triathlon

Over all: 6:47:14
Swim: 30:54 +3 min and change for run to transition
T1: 3:36
Bike: 2:56:55
T2: 4:28
Run: 3:09:00

The weekend before the race I was up in Milwaukee and decided to see what the water temps were like. I got to Racine and swam or at least tried for about twenty minutes. I went in three times, the last time I fully submerged then promptly got out; the life guard said it was 50 degrees!!! Knowing this, I set to work trying to find a wetsuit for the next weekend. Only one store in Madison had a suit in my size available for the next weekend so I booked it.

This race would be a race of many firsts for me. First time I’ve ever raced with a wetsuit, first ½ Iron distance, and first time I’ve ever done a race with such extremes in temperature, It should be called the FIRE and ICE triathlon!

Saturday came, I packed up all my stuff and headed to Racine. When I had left Madison it was sunny and in the high 80s; in Racine it was rainy, foggy, and about 65 degrees. Except for the rain it was perfect racing conditions. My performance always suffers when it gets above 80 degrees, so for me the cooler the better. I picked up my race numbers and goody bag and browsed the expo, I was also hoping to spot some of the LITers that were at the race but I didn’t find anyone. Next I went and dropped off my bike at transition.

I got an awesome spot in transition, 2 racks from the run exit and I was closest to the main isle. While I was doing that a women came and racked right next to me. She was about my age and doing her first half Iron too. It’s at this point that I have to say Tri folks are the nicest people. She and a few others would do something for me on Sunday that I would never have imagined total strangers would do for other strangers. That task done I decide to head into downtown Milwaukee and get something to eat and then get to bed. I got to my hotel after dinner and attempted to sleep.

I was more nervous about this race than I had been about my first marathon! I could not sleep. The entire night I was practically wide awake, and at 4:45am the alarm went off and I could finally get up for real. I ate some pasta leftovers from dinner as my breakfast and double checked my transition bags. I had about a 40 minute drive from my hotel in Milwaukee to the start. I got there and set to work laying out all my stuff. Then I went and got marked, and they used the stamps!! I always feel like a pro when I get stamped instead of the black marker. I donned my wetsuit and started the 1 mile walk to the swim start.

The swim begins a mile north of transition, and you swim south along the beach and then have to run a few hundred yard through loose sand to transition. I got to the start and they said, because of the mist and fog the start has been delayed until 7:15am. While I was waiting I saw a lot of people including the pros that had only brought sleeveless wetsuits begging for caps and booties or anything they could find to help insulate them from the 55 degree water. It’s now 7:15 and they say it’s delayed until 7:30. It went like that until finally at 8:00am, 1hr after the original start time, it began. First went all the pros then came my wave, the 29 and under wave. In it were mostly Navy Seals, and Air force recruits and college triathlon guys. I’m normally a good foot above most people but compared to this group I was average; and quite nervous.

The swim began and we all rushed into the ice cold water wading our way out until we could swim. Boy was it cold, even with the wetsuit it almost took my breath away, and I could no longer feel my hands or feet or face. I rounded the first buoy getting knocked every which way, and for about a ¼ mile was very close to panic. My wetsuit which I wasn’t used to was very tight around my chest so I could only take very small breaths, that, the waves and getting beat on made me question what I was doing out there. Soon after it started to smooth out and I was able to sort of swim, I had trouble sighting in the fog though and more than once found my self either heading straight for Michigan or heading into shore. I did lots of zigzagging and probably looked like I was drunk!

I just kept swimming, though, and all the sudden through the mist four yellow buoys appeared signaling the end of the swim. I couldn’t believe it, it’s over all ready! I didn’t even find a rhythm or swim in a straight line!! I rounded the last buoy and headed for shore. I hit the beach in 30:54. I could hardly believe it but my Heart rate was 182, that’s 4 beats lower than my run LT! I guess I really was panicking! Up on the beach I struggled to get my wetsuit off while running. Finally some competitor reached over and pulled down the zipper for me. Who ever you are thanks! Because if you hadn’t of done that I’d probably still be in that wetsuit desperately trying reaching the zipper. I hit transition and quickly pulled off my wetsuit, put on my bike jersey, helmet and shoes and exited T1in 3:36. Off on the bike.

The one true hill on the course was at the beginning and I had made sure to get my gears all set for it when I left my bike on Saturday. I spun up the hill and off I went. Up to mile 5 my body was still in shock from the swim HR still around 182. I was really amazed at how fast I was able to go and for the first 15 miles I was averaging 25mph!! I was FOP and up with guys on super expensive disc wheeled speed machines. And I was on a specialized comfort road bike with clip ons and training wheels!

My heart rate started to come down and settled at around 165 which is normal for me racing on the bike. The course was really narrow in spots and it was really difficult to avoid situations where you would be considered drafting, in some spots the course was just wider than a side walk! At about mile 20 this guy rolled up to me and commented on my team Discovery jersey, then he speed off down the road. I would see this guy cheering me on later during the run.

I was in between miles 20-30 when the wind picked up. I was going north I think and I could hear the wind whistling through the spokes and saw my speed drop to 20mph, from then until mile 40 I would be fighting the wind. I was determined to not let my speed drop under 20mph though. I more or less averaged between 20 and 21.5 until I had to stop for an emergency pit stop in the woods. I wanted to try out the pee off the bike thing but there were lots of people around and I was a bit embarrassed so I trudged off the road and into the woods. The mosquito infested woods!

I emerged with 6 new very itchy mosquito bites that would occupy much of my concentration for the next few miles. At about mile 35 I noticed my aero bars were starting to vibrate loose!! By mile 40 they were resting on my brake cables and were completely useless. I was glad I still had drop bars, but since my bike was set up for aero It was extremely uncomfortable and my knees kept hitting my elbows so I rode mostly out of the saddle on the hoods for the rest of the bike. From 40 to 56 it was pretty easy as I now had the wind at my back, all though now my speed was way down and my legs were complaining from having to pedal mostly standing! It started to get very hot! From mile 40 to the finish I watched my thermometer creep from 65-70 then to 77 and finally to 81, dangerous territory for the run!

I think I probably could have maintained my +20mph avg for those last few miles but after the Aero bars came loose I lost concentration and focus on pedaling fast and efficiently. Before that though I was on track for 2:30 ish bike split. With a few miles to go I forced my self to ride seated and just spin. A guy came up to me asked me how I was doing, and we chatted a little while about the up coming run course. I hit less than a mile to go, rounded the corner and pedaled down the hill to the dismount line. Total bike time was 2:56:55 with a 19.0mph bike course average.

I jogged my bike to my rack and decide to keep the bike jersey on, I put my shoes on lathered up on sunscreen and head out for the run T2 was 4:28. Longer than I had hoped but nothing compared to the slog fest that was the run.

A few observations: I noticed many peletons on the course and they of were flying! One engulfed me at about mile 35 and I could of sworn I was in the middle of a Cat 3 road race! There were so many people blatantly drafting! There were a couple of very narrow and sharp turns and I saw a lot of people slam on the brakes through the turns. I didn’t think they were that bad but maybe that’s because I’ve been getting in to road racing over the past spring. I’ve been thinking more and more that triathlete’s bike handling skills would really improve if they did some traditional bike racing. I saw a lot of hesitant bikers! Overall though the course was nice and flat and well organized, I just wish some of the course was wider than it was, in those spots it was difficult to remain out of the draft zone without slowing way down.

On to the run: I exited Transition and started to jog I couldn’t really manage a run my legs were still confused about what they were supposed to be doing. I started hydrating right away but I had forgotten to keep eating while I was biking so I knew I was in for a long slow half marathon. There were really only two hills on the run course they were right at the beginning and were big hills that went right up a dune. I couldn’t run those so I did the Ultra power walk.

I hit mile two but my legs were still telling me they didn’t quite understand what I wanted them to do, so more run walk. Finally I hit mile 3 and I was able to run. Not fast, barely qualified as a run, but I was running I ran to the turn around and headed back for the last half of the first lap. Mile 4 went by and then I ran into the women that was next to me in transition, my rack buddy, as she said. we talked about the bike and about how the run was going the she sped off. My legs were not cooperating and the course by now was completely shade less and windless, it started to get REALLY hot and I got slower, which was hard to do because even my “running” was barely faster than a walk.

I knew at that point I was looking at a PR for slowest ever half marathon. I continued “running” and hydrating through the turn around to begin the second lap. I was starting to overheat. At the aid stations I was taking cup after cup of Ice and pouring in my jersey trying to cool down. It would work for about 5 minutes until the ice melted and then I would be overheated again. I did do a good job with hydration and sodium levels though!

The bike was cool enough that I didn’t really need to take any but I started taking them with about 10 miles to go just to prepare for the run and kept taking them, about 2 per hour until I finished, that was the only part of the run that went well. I was reduced to fast walk after the turn around of the last lap because I just could not keep cool and I was starting to recognize signs heat exhaustion. I basically walked the last 3 miles and even that was becoming a struggle.

I started to think that maybe it was glycogen depletion since I wasn’t able to eat much on the bike. I came into the finish chute and to my surprise all the people I had meet that were on my rack were there cheering me on as I finished. This meant SOOOOOO much to me because none of my family or friends were able to come and see me complete my first half Iron distance race.
I finished with a run time of 3:09:00 my slowest ½ marathon ever. One hour and 5 minutes slower than my previous slowest ½ marathon! My run heart rate average was 158 well below what I normally race at which seemed odd because no matter how fast I tried to run it never got about 170 and I usually race at 176-186 when I do marathons. I finished with a final time of 6:47:14. I was hoping for a time in the 5hr range but for my first ½ iron I’ll take it.

After I finished I went and talked to all of my “rack buddies” for a while. They had all finished in between an hour and hour and a half before me and I was blown away that they would stick around to see me finish!!! I found out they were all from either Milwaukee or Madison and several of them are doing IM WI! So I’ve finally got some people I can go on training rides/runs with!
This race was a really good confidence booster for IM Wisconsin this September. Even though the run didn’t go well. I was happy with the Swim and the Bike. I see some areas that need fine tuning in the swim like getting used to OW swims with lots of other people and improve my sighting. On the bike I need to find some food that my stomach will tolerate and I need to work on my into the wind cycling and work on getting a little better at climbing. I like to climb out of the saddle, I think it’s one of the most joyous experiences in cycling, there is nothing like passing people while climbing, but it does take a lot out of my legs so I need to get my legs stronger.

Even though this course was not very hilly compared to the IM WI course I need to get better at recovering when I crest a hill if I hope to maintain a similar average come September 7. The run was bad but I’ve had similar performances at marathons that occurred in the heat. I’ve come to the conclusion that I just can’t cool myself down very well when it’s hot out. Overall it was a great race, a fun race, and a memorable race, perfect for a First ½ iron.